Buildings + Beyond Podcast

Steven Winter Associates
  • 5.0 (44)
  • SCIENCE

Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

  1. 08/08/2025

    Mini Episode – Listen Before You Install Your Next Heat Pump

    It’s been a while! Buildings + Beyond host Robb Aldrich is back with a quick update on a new (and free!) video series for anyone who wants to learn how to install an air-source heat pump. We hope to return with more full-length episodes soon, but in the meantime, say hello at podcast@swinter.com. Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) can work great, even in cold climates, but they have to be designed and installed correctly to be high-performance. At Steven Winter Associates, we recently worked with Jon Harrod (a previous guest on the pod) to create a video series for NYSERDA that demonstrates each step of a real-life ASHP installation including: Planning, locating, and setting equipment Connecting everything, preventing refrigerant leaks, and charging Setting you up for success – making sure everything works and facilitating good operation and maintenance See below for how to access! Featuring Host: Robb Aldrich, Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates Episode Resources VIDEO SERIES: Cold-Climate Air Source Heat Pump – Installation Refreshers Guide The series includes 15 videos, each 2-5 minutes, that can easily be viewed at your desk, on your phone, and while in the field. Here’s how to access: Watch and save the YouTube playlist: https://bit.ly/ashpplaylist Watch online on the New York Clean Heat Connect website: https://cleanheatconnect.ny.gov/installation-materials/ Need CEUs? Enroll in the “Installing a Cold-Climate, Air-Source Heat Pump” course on SWA Academy: https://bets.swa-academy.com. This course is free to those who live or work in New York State. If you’re looking for more info on designing and selecting ASHP equipment, check out the longer “Air-Source Heat Pumps: Achieving Comfort & Efficiency in Cold Climates” course on SWA Academy: https://ashp.swa-academy.com KEEP LISTENING: The Role of Heat Pumps in Low-Moderate Income Homes with Jon Harrod Listen to our full episode with contractor, author, and electrification advocate Jon Harrod: https://www.swinter.com/podcast/the-role-of-heat-pumps-in-low-moderate-income-homes-with-jon-harrod/ About Buildings + Beyond Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings + Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr

    12 min

  2. 10/30/2024

    Room Acoustics – Are They the Missing Piece in the Occupant Experience?

    Many of us take good acoustics for granted. But it’s common for acoustic efforts to be the first thing cut from commercial projects—or not included in the design phase at all, according to Graham Waks, founder of Music City Acoustics. And when a space has bad acoustics, it can negatively impact the occupant experience. Buildings + Beyond producer and audio guru Dylan Martello invited Graham on the podcast to talk about the science behind room acoustics, how they affect the occupants of a space, and the most effective ways to improve acoustics for several types of commercial spaces. Plus, we have a special introduction with Dylan and B+B host Robb Aldrich! Featuring Graham Waks, founder of Music City Acoustics Host: Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates Guest Bios Graham Waks is the founder of Music City Acoustics, a company known for providing top-tier acoustic treatment solutions for musicians, producers, and audio professionals. With over a decade of experience, Graham is passionate about helping clients achieve the best possible sound environments, whether in studios, offices, restaurants, or churches. Graham’s commitment to quality and innovation has made his company a trusted name for clients looking to improve their acoustic performance and sound quality. Learn more at musiccityacoustics.com/about. Episode Resources From Music City Acoustics: 10 Common Questions About Room Acoustics, Answered: https://www.musiccityacoustics.com/our-blog/10-most-common-acoustic-questions Office and Workplace Acoustics 101: https://www.musiccityacoustics.com/our-blog/office-acoustics-101 Episode Sponsor Passive House Accelerator Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator! Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings. Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series. Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos. We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings + Beyond Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings + Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    55 min

  3. 09/17/2024

    Do We Need a Green Certification Program Just for Commercial Kitchens? (Hint… Yes)

    Featuring Chef Christopher Galarza Christopher is a pioneering force in the culinary world, known for his unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation in kitchen design. As the founder of Forward Dining Solutions LLC and co-founder of EcoChef, Chef Galarza has become a leading advocate for decarbonizing commercial kitchens and championing the Green Industrial Revolution within the foodservice industry. Read more Chef Duke Gastiger (pictured with Monica Gastiger) Duke and Monica bring specialized talents and passion to RE Farm Café at Windswept. Duke’s prior corporate life with Sheraton and Hyatt Hotels embraced training with master chefs from around the world, learning the essence and nuances of each of their cuisines. Read more Host: Kelly Westby Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices. Commercial kitchens are one of the most challenging spaces to electrify, but we need to take on this challenge in order to decarbonize restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, and other buildings with commercial kitchens. Is another green certification program the answer? In this episode, Chefs Christopher Galarza and Duke Gastiger are back to dive into EcoChef—the first electric kitchen rating system and certification program with the goal to standardize how commercial kitchens are designed, built, and operated. They discuss the origin story of EcoChef, the structure of the program, the pilot project with Duke’s RE Farm Café, and why commercial kitchens need a dedicated certification program for electrification. Keep listening: If you missed it, listen to part one of our conversation with Chefs Christopher and Duke, It’s Getting Hot in Here! – Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Electric Kitchens. Special update: Congratulations to Chef Christopher for becoming a Certified Executive Chef (CEC), making him the first chef in history to earn this certification in an all-electric kitchen! Read more Sponsor Passive House Accelerator Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator! Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings. Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series. Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos. We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    35 min

  4. 09/01/2024

    It’s Getting Hot in Here! – Why We Can’t Stop Talking About Electric Kitchens

    Featuring Chef Christopher Galarza Christopher is a pioneering force in the culinary world, known for his unwavering commitment to sustainability and innovation in kitchen design. As the founder of Forward Dining Solutions LLC and co-founder of EcoChef, Chef Galarza has become a leading advocate. Read more Chef Duke Gastiger (pictured with Monica Gastiger) Duke and Monica bring specialized talents and passion to RE Farm Café at Windswept. Duke’s prior corporate life with Sheraton and Hyatt Hotels embraced training with master chefs from around the world, learning the essence and nuances of each of their cuisines. With a strong entrepreneurial drive, Duke returned to his college town in 1985 to acquire The All-American Rathskeller. In 1987, Duke opened Spats Café and Speakeasy, a themed “prohibition era” eatery. Read more Host: Kelly Westby Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices. Remember when gas stoves became a political issue last year? While all that public debate was happening, there were chefs around the world embracing the concept of all-electric kitchens and getting past the learning curve to induction cooking. We don’t hear about gas stoves in the news as much as we used to, but kitchen electrification will always be a hot topic here at Buildings + Beyond! In this episode, we invited Chef Christopher Galarza back to the podcast to talk about the progress being made to transform more commercial kitchens into efficient, safe, and climate-friendly spaces. Chris brought Duke Gastiger, who built a net zero, all-electric commercial kitchen at his farm restaurant, to join the conversation. Keep listening: Our previous episode with Chef Christopher Galarza, It’s Time to 86 Fossil Fuels in Commercial Kitchens, is available here. Coming soon: Look out for part two of this episode all about the EcoChef electric kitchen rating system and certification. Episode Resources From Christopher’s Bio: Forward Dining Solutions EcoChef – the first electric kitchen rating system and certification American Culinary Federation Pittsburgh Chapter Understanding the Green Industrial Revolution: An Interdisciplinary Look at the Hospitality Industry From Duke’s Bio: RE Farm Café at Windswept RElearn Cooking Class: Pepper Condiments – Sunday, Sep 22, 2024 at RE Farm Café Induction Cooking: Martin Yan Talks Wok Induction Cooking – The Switch Is On YouTube Channel Gas Stoves & Our Health: Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States – RMI Asthma in the Black Community – National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Study finds combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of chemical linked to a higher risk of blood cell cancers – Stanford Report Pennsylvania CHECK Program: Sizzling News for Commercial Kitchens: Get Up to $8,500 to Learn About Sustainability and Electrify Your Cooking – Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Sponsor Passive House Accelerator Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator! Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings. Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series. Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos. We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    49 min

  5. 07/26/2024

    Career Diaries – What’s It Like Working As an Accessibility Consultant?

    Featuring Carlos Sevillano Carlos is a Senior Accessibility Consultant at SWA focusing primarily on residential projects. His key responsibilities include conducting plan reviews, field inspections, and providing technical guidance to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulatory and building code requirements for accessible design and construction. Jeff Heitert Jeff is an Accessibility Consulting Director and a 15+ year veteran of the team at SWA. He has specialized expertise in the complex scoping and technical requirements of federal, state, and local regulations and building codes that require accessible design and construction. Jeff oversees quality control and consulting services for large multifamily and mixed-use projects throughout the country. Jennifer Low Jennifer is a Senior Accessibility Consultant at SWA. She provides accessibility compliance and consulting services through plan reviews, field inspections, due diligence and barrier removal surveys, remediation development, litigation consulting, technical assistance, and training with focus on healthcare. Host: Kelly Westby Kelly leads the Building Operations, Decarbonization, and Efficiency (BODE) team at SWA. She has a wide range of experience in building science, commissioning, and energy efficiency retrofitting. Kelly’s commissioning, energy code, and efficiency projects cover millions of square feet of commercial buildings along the East Coast. She also speaks at events and conferences, sharing her expertise on industry best practices. Accessibility consultants work at the intersection of architecture and social justice. It’s much more than checking the boxes on accessibility requirements of laws and codes; it takes precision, dedication, and creativity to solve problems and remove physical barriers to access that have historically marginalized people with disabilities. To mark the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, we invited three members of the accessibility team at Steven Winter Associates (SWA) on the Buildings + Beyond podcast. Combined, they have almost 40 years of experience as accessibility consultants! We hope you’re as inspired as we are by their wisdom (yes, wisdom; we talk a lot about this), lessons learned, and stories from the field. Episode Resources More podcast episodes about accessibility: (ENCORE) ‘All-Access’ with Peter Stratton The Devil’s in the Details: Common Accessibility Oversights Blog posts about accessible design and construction: 5 Misconceptions About the Americans with Disabilities Act & 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design Trends in Healthcare: The State of Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment Standards 5 Misconceptions About Fair Housing Act (FHA) Design and Construction Compliance Top 10 Accessible Design Oversights: Hotels VIEW ALL The book by Peter Stratton, Managing Director of Accessibility Services at SWA, discussed in this episode: “A Basic Guide to Fair Housing Accessibility – Everything Architects and Builders Need to Know about the Fair Housing Act Accessibility Guidelines” Interested in joining our team? Careers at Steven Winter Associates Sponsor Passive House Accelerator Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator! Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings. Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series. Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos. We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    48 min

  6. 06/28/2024

    Your Top 10 Passive House Questions, Answered – The Long-Awaited Part 2

    Featuring Lois Arena, Director of High-Performance Building Solutions at Steven Winter Associates Lois possesses over 25 years of experience in the building science field and has extensive experience with new and existing buildings. Lois holds both US and International Passive House consultant certifications and is currently consulting on some of the largest and most difficult Passive House projects in the world. She has co-authored and presented training programs about energy efficient building practices to professionals in all sectors of the building industry and is regularly invited to present at conferences and private firms around the world to discuss the benefits of and road blocks to Passive House adoption. Dylan Martello, Senior Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates Dylan focuses primarily on advanced energy modeling, Passive House design consulting, and building performance analysis. Dylan brings a keen understanding of the economic, social, and environmental implications that come with energy efficiency measures in advanced building design. Dylan also serves as an integral part of the Buildings and Beyond podcast production team, providing sound engineering and editing for each episode. On the very first episode of Buildings + Beyond, Passive House pioneer Lois Arena answered the most common questions asked about meeting the high-performance requirements of the Passive House standard. You loved the episode—it’s one of our most popular of all time—and we loved recording with Lois. So, 6 years later, we decided to record a highly anticipated follow-up episode. Listen as host Robb Aldrich poses the same 10 questions from the original episode, and a few new ones, to Lois and Dylan Martello—who both work on first-of-their-kind, largescale Passive House projects at Steven Winter Associates. What answers have remained the same, and what has changed in the last 6 years? Click here to listen to the original episode. Episode Resources Passive House Institute PHIUS Passive House Accelerator Passive House Accelerator YouTube Channel – Offers a wide range of useful technical and non-technical videos Sendero Verde – Tour the Construction of This NYC Affordable Housing Development – One of the largest certified multifamily Passive House developments in the country Sponsor Passive House Accelerator Thank you to our episode sponsor, Passive House Accelerator! Passive House Accelerator is an online community and media company dedicated to accelerating the transition to clean, resilient, zero-carbon buildings. Every week, Passive House Accelerator produces new original content, including Passive House Accelerator LIVE! online educational events, Passive House Podcast episodes, articles about low-carbon building, video content, and a newsletter. In addition, it also publishes a magazine twice a year and hosts the acclaimed Reimagine Buildings online conference series. Visit passivehouseaccelerator.com to subscribe to the newsletter, register for an upcoming event, and browse the latest podcast episodes, articles, and videos. We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    57 min

  7. 04/09/2024

    2024 IECC – What Happened?

    Featuring Gayathri Vijayakumar Gayathri is a Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates. For over 18 years, she has specialized in evaluating residential and multifamily buildings with an emphasis on high-performance construction and renewable energy systems. Early in her career, Gayathri provided technical assistance to sustainability projects by performing energy modeling and conducting cost-benefit analyses of energy efficient measures in both new and existing residential construction. She leveraged that experience for her current role: providing consulting to federal, state, and local agencies, codes, and programs to develop emerging standards and procedures that involve energy efficiency and indoor air quality requirements. This includes the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Multifamily New Construction Programs, where she has provided technical support since 2008, and more recently, their Indoor airPLUS program. Gayathri is also an active contributor to various technical committees that share a goal of improving codes and standards. She currently is a voting member of the 2024 IECC Residential Consensus Committee and Chair of RESNET’s Standards Development Committee, SDC300. The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) or “model code” establishes the minimum requirements for building energy efficiency. The code is updated every three years, and for 2024, a new consensus-driven development process brought together diverse stakeholders to determine those requirements. However, the International Code Council’s Board of Directors recently voted to go against consensus and remove mandatory provisions relating to building decarbonization from the 2024 draft. In this episode, host Robb Aldrich interviews Gayathri Vijayakumar, Principal Mechanical Engineer at Steven Winter Associates and a voting member of the 2024 IECC Residential Consensus Committee, to find out… what happened? Episode Information & Resources Previous episodes on energy code: How Codes Get Made with Gayathri Vijayakumar (Apple Podcasts | Spotify) Answering the Tough Questions About Energy Codes (Apple Podcasts | Spotify) IECC resources: 2021 IECC intent statement 2024 IECC intent statement: Find on pages 3-4 of Leading the Way to Energy Efficiency (PDF) Code Council’s response (PDF) when asked for clarification on the 2024 IECC intent statement 2024 IECC appeals Submitted appeals Results from the Appeals Board (PDF) Results from the Board of Directors DOE graph showing improvement in residential and commercial energy codes (1975-2021) We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas | Lucy Koch

    1h 2m

  8. 03/25/2024

    Choosing Electrification or Efficiency (When Both Aren't Possible)

    Featuring Ryan Merkin Ryan Merkin is Vice President of Business Development with BlocPower. He is an experienced leader with over 20 years in the building science and energy consulting industry. Ryan has a demonstrated history developing decarbonization projects for new builds and retrofits. He is skilled in the delivery of consulting services for low energy building design, electrification, engineering and retrofit studies, energy code adoption and compliance, DER strategies, solar design, smart building system integration, utility and incentive programs, and professional training. Prior to joining BlocPower, Ryan was a Vice President and Director of Multifamily Energy Services for 13 years with Steven Winter Associates. Ryan is active in the New York metropolitan area engineering community as board member and former President of Association of Energy Engineers New York City Chapter. Ryan received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from University at Albany, State University of New York and Master of Science in Geosystems from MIT. When is it the right call to improve the energy efficiency of existing building systems, or upgrade and electrify them? Though electrification is important to reduce carbon emissions, electrifying buildings is not straightforward. Factors like cost, existing infrastructure, compliance needs (and we’ll say it again: cost!) can keep building owners from going all-electric. In this episode, Buildings + Beyond co-host Robb Aldrich catches up with Ryan Merkin, Vice President of Business Development at BlocPower (and a SWA alum). They discuss the eight areas Ryan considers when deciding to focus on efficiency vs. electrification: Building height Planned capital expenditures (CapEx) Current system condition and remaining useful life Heating energy source: oil and electrical resistance Existing systems: Individual/unitized vs. central Packaged terminal ACs (PTACs) and through-wall sleeve ACs Regulatory drivers (LL97, ESG, etc.) and incentives Metering: who pays what now; who would pay in the future Note: This episode was recorded in December 2023. Mentions of “next year” are referring to the year 2024. Episode Information & Resources BlocPower projects: Clean Heating for a Beloved Preservation Organization Multifamily, Low-Rise Home With Heating System at the End of its Cycle A Solar & HVAC Retrofit for a Multifamily Building We Want to Hear From You! Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com. About Buildings and Beyond Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health. Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com. Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby Production Team: Heather Breslin | Dylan Martello | Tricia Carr | Ian Slakas

    35 min
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Buildings + Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.

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